So, one day you look down. Your feet are in shoes you don't recognize. Maybe you like them, maybe you don't. You can always change shoes. . . . Reinvention! . . . Your life begins here.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Man in Wheelchair, Age 78, Kills 3 Women. Story Gets Worse

When I heard that this 78-year-old man in a wheelchair shot and killed his 31-year-old girlfriend/wife, her mother and her sister, had also less than year ago been charged with beating his young wife and was acquitted of the charges days before the murder, my first thought was that his old age and visible infirmity, probably worked in his favor in court. The judge probably assumed the young girlfriend/wife made up the allegations that he beat her. (One story says one of the murder victims was his wife, another says girlfriend.)

As it turns out, the old dog has been committing violent acts against women since his younger years, including allegedly raping a young girl repeatedly over the course of five years when he was in his sixties. The girl, however, later dropped the charges. The alleged rapist was her mother's boyfriend.

I'll tell you that there are all kinds of ways a victim can be coerced to drop charges, especially when the man is dating her mother or in some cases is a spouse paying the bills. Dropped charges in cases of domestic violence and criminal rape is never proof the victim made a false allegation. I acknowledge there have been cases where women gave false testimony, but those cases are the exception not the rule.

From WWL-TV:

Just days before SWAT officers responded to her shooting death, 30-year-old Jennifer Muse tried to get her 78-year-old boyfriend, Alfred Andrews Sr., in jail for domestic violence.

Police say Andrews shot her, her mother and her sister, but spared the 14-year-old son they have together.

"It's a real tragedy because the children have to suffer, the parents and loved ones and family are going to suffer," said a neighbor living near the scene of the shooting.

Muse filed the domestic charge against Andrews in July, and Monday, Magistrate Commissioner Marie Bookman acquitted and released him. She explained her judgment in a letter Wednesday, saying no evidence was presented to her of domestic violence.

I tend to believe once a man shows a pattern of beating and raping women, it's unlikely he'll break that pattern. The case of this old man shouts that women need to see these men for what they are and stop thinking they'll outgrow the violence or grow a conscience and exercise self-control.

In addition, the system should do more to protect women and judges should stop deciding guilt or innocence based on appearance. I don't care what the magistrate says; I'll always believe she was swayed by his age and signs of disability into thinking he was harmless.

My second thought when I learned of this case was what kind of desperate life must that 30-year-old been living to let a 78-year-old man in a wheelchair take her power and roll with it? More than likely when the relationship started, Andrews was not wheelchair bound and established his power over her early.

He sounds like pedophile and may have groomed Muse when she was much younger, considering that their son is 14 years old. That means Andrews had sex with Muse when she was 16 and he was 64. It's highly probable that he started working on her before she was even 16 years old.

This man continuing to abuse women in his old age, even after he was wheelchair bound, gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "hell on wheels."

On Monday, 78-year-old Alfred Andrews rolled into court in a wheelchair to defend himself against allegations that he beat his 31-year-old wife. He was acquitted.

Two days later, Andrews grabbed a rifle and gunned down his spouse, her sister and her mother -- a rampage against the women in his life. The only person spared was the couple's 14-year-old son, whom police described as mentally challenged.

After his killing spree, Andrews called his daughter and told her he had shot his wife. He then fired a bullet into his face, ending the nightmare inside the Treme home where they all lived, police said. Andrews was taken to University Hospital where he was listed late Wednesday in critical condition. (Read more)

The two stories from WWL-TV and the Times Picayune don't match or mesh well. While the WWL-TV story says it was a different 16-year-old who filed charges against Andrews in 1996 for rape, I'm starting to think that his wife/girlfriend and the young girl who accused him of rape may be the same person.

If at 16 she found out she was pregnant by him, that information would have been a factor used to convince her to drop the rape charges, or her mother, Andrews former girlfriend, could have persuaded her to file the rape charges to pressure Andrews into marrying her and taking care of the baby. According to the Times Picayune story, Muse's mother, Wanda Wagner Simpson--one of the murder victims--also dated Andrews, the suspect, in the past. The dates line up to indicate this is the same family referred to in the 1996 aggravated rape case. If it's not the same family, then that means Andrews did the same scenario with another family.

So, it seems that this man molested this young girl from the ages of 11 to 16, impregnated her, married her and also beat her. She finally got the courage to take him to court again, 14 years after the first time she accused him of rape, and he showed up to court in a wheelchair, gained the judge's sympathy, was acquitted, and went home and shot the women who kept him out of jail the first time. This is a morality tale, a very disturbing, sordid tale with a lesson for us.

5 comments:

This is a disturbing reminder of just how much more work needs to be done to educate society on toxic relationships and how Domestic Violence is enabled in homes.

He would be a good focal point to teach some history about the old attitudes about Domestic Violence and sexual abuse. This man would of been a teenager and young adult male during the time when the attitudes about abuse were not pro women or children.

I'm going to link this over on MBEV. I feel like doing some teaching this a.m.

When I heard this story, my mind could not get pass the fact that...they had a teenage son together and the woman was only 30 years old.How did this happen that a 60+ year old man was engaging in sex with a teen and no one did anything about this?

This is such a horrible story. I feel terrible for that young woman and what was clearly a very difficult life. I hope this wasn't really a case of the court system taking pity on a disabled person. But with domestic violence involved, I am sure his disability did factor in. This is so, so sad.

When you come to think about it domestic violence is over looked in the court system. How does some allow a person to get away with a crime because of there disabilities. This is a horrific story "Sheep in Wolves clothing" comes to mind, he looked innocent and ordinary, but had hidden agendas and malicious intent.He was treat to the whole family. When we have been abused we have to set boundaries in our life to avoid being bullied of taken advantage of by others.